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“Figtree”. The Macleay Valley

My family ran a third generation dairy and cattle farm known as “Figtree”, in a small town called Clybucca. It was the rich farm lands of the Macleay Valley on the Mid North Coast of NSW where as a five year old I used to climb on the roof of the outside laundry to reach the fresh figs from the “Figtree”. Those early years have embodied in me the passion for freshly picked farm food.

We grew our own watermelons, peaches, permissons, pears and had vines of passionfruit growing over the paling fence. My mother would skim the cream from the milk after the cows were milked and whip it to make the most beautiful whipped cream you could ever taste. Add the freshly whipped cream to the baked grammar pumpkin tarts and the taste was heavenly.

Raising our own poultry, I would run and feed the ducks & chooks and collect all the fresh eggs. The wonderful smell and taste of the pastry of my mums incredible meat pies and the tantilising freshly baked apple tarts were to die for. The constant aroma of chocolate brownies, custard slices with fresh passionfruit icing and the most talked about Pavlovas on the Macleay Valley with high peaks of meringue and covered with cream fresh from the dairy and then topped with passionfruit from the vines.

It is the memories and tastes of the bygone era that drive my passion to produce food that is not only fresh and flavoursome but also full of the passion of childhood memories.